According to a latest survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
